Mt. High kicks off the season with #Woodworth premiere

words by Jeff Malinphotos by Ryan “Huggy” Hughes, John McColly, and Jeff Malin

At Mountain High yesterday, fall was in full swing. The leaves were thinking about changing, the temperature was dipping, fires were burning, and the smell of fresh air, mixed with white grape white owls, brats, and beer gave the resort parking lot an overall friendly, positive vibe. It was like a tailgate for winter.

The outdoor bar at Mt. High was making sure everyone there didn’t lose what buzz they had acquired in the parking lot by keeping various I.P.As and stouts flowing. They were also pushing out bratwurst to people who had purchased the beer, brat, mug, and #Woodworth DVD package.

Once the Mt. High crew had finished blowing on the jib setup, they opened it up to kids with the Burton Learn to Ride program, where groms could get their first taste of snow for the 2013/2014 season. Once the little shredders were done jibbing, it opened up to all season pass holders. Everyone was dusting off the ol’ snowboard and was a little rusty at first (saw a few zeaches), but snowboarding is like riding a bicycle and soon people started to lay down some heavier tricks.

At 7:30pm, everyone headed up the hill to where the premiere was actually taking place. Mt. High had set up a large, outdoor inflatable screen and benches all around. At the premiere were hometown heroes Nick Sibayan, Cory Cronk, and Spencer Link. #Woodworth was described perfectly beforehand by Mt. High as “where we came from, and where we are going.”

#Woodworth started out with a little history about Mt. High and how the title of the movie is an ode to Dick Woodworth, who made the mountain what it is today. In 1975, Woodworth, along with Bill Ciserio, introduced resort amenities to the mountain like snowmaking (which at the time was just short of throwing ice on the hill). Snowboarding was just starting to become a thing and Mt. High was the first SoCal resort to allow it. Their “terrain park” was merely fallen trees and large rocks scattered around the mountain. Fast forward to 2013, Mt. High hasn’t forgotten its roots with the Woodworth Gulch which is a 100% natural terrain park, top to bottom.

#Woodworth showcases the talents of Mountain High team riders Ryan Paul, Nick Visconti, Spencer Link, Cory Cronk, Kyle Lopiccolo, Trevar Haas, and many more. It also has cameos by other pros such as Jordan Small and Stevie Bell. The riding itself started out with the Mt. High team sitting around a campfire cooking and hanging out. Naturally, this lead to lighting fire to and sessioning a wood rail. The video followed with heavy parts from Cronk, Visconti, Paul and pretty much everyone else. Nobody produced a part that didn’t have some heavy tricks with their own style on them. From Ryan Paul taking the term usually reserved for skateboarding “flip in, flip out” to a whole different level to Cory Cronk’s super steezy 540 between some trees, they really showed the versatility of the Mt. High team and the park crew’s creativity with their jibs and jumps last season. #Woodworth has an awesome mixture between natural and man-made hits and utilized the boundary-marking fences for gaps onto handrails and metal corrugated pipes acting as cannons.

Overall, the day got everyone at the event stoked for winter, from the tailgate scene in the parking lot to the groms getting their first chance to shred. Many SoCal locals were proud to see their home mountain on the big screen and witness the long and late hours put in by the staff at Mt. High pay off in this full-length snowboard movie. People of all ages got to feel some snow under their feet and cold temps flowing around their bodies. With winter fast approaching, this got everyone planning out the first trick they will learn once Mt. High opens up for the season.

Be sure to check out the full-length movie #Woodworth when it drops on www.snowboardermag.com on October 11th.